Voices: When ordinary men change the course of history

Jun. 5, 2014
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U.S. President Ronald Reagan delivers a speech at the Pointe du Hoc Memorial in Normandy, France, June 6, 1984, during commemorative ceremonies of the 40th anniversary of the Allied landing in Normandy in 1944. / AP

by Owen Ullmann, USATODAY

by Owen Ullmann, USATODAY

I remember learning in school the importance of D-Day as a turning point in World War II that ultimately led to the Allies' victory over Nazi Germany in Europe.

But I did not grasp the incredible accomplishment of what those troops who landed on the beaches of Normandy had achieved until I visited the site myself 30 years ago today. I was a reporter accompanying President Reagan, who gave one of the most memorable speeches of his career to mark the 40th anniversary of the invasion.

The advance troops, many just teenagers, had to wade through water with heavy packs from their landing craft onto a beach protected by barriers and mines, make it across several hundred yards of open terrain and then scale cliffs as high as 170 feet. All the while, Germans atop the cliffs were firing down with artillery, mortars, rifles and machine guns.

Standing atop Pointe du Hoc, Reagan described how 225 U.S. Rangers climbed that steep cliff: "When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe." After two days of fighting, he noted, only 90 of the Rangers "could still bear arms."

"These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc," Reagan said of the Ranger veterans sitting by him who had returned to commemorate the anniversary. "These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war."

At the time, they were in their late 50s and up. Today, those still alive are in their late 80s and older.

For a special USA TODAY edition commemorating the 70th anniversary, we interviewed veterans from every state who played a role in the D-Day invasion. They modestly recalled being young and scared and merely doing a job they were called on to perform. They didn't boast or describe their actions as heroic. And they remembered the carnage.

"We got into an airplane in England," said Bill Wingett, 91, who was raised in Richmond, Calif. "We jumped out of the damn thing in France (on D-Day),and the fighting began. There's not much more to say about that."

Bob Sales, 88, of Madison Heights, Va., was the lone survivor of a landing craft that plied the rough waters to the beach. German gunners cut down the other 29 men in his boat. "It was hell," he said. "I'll tell. Men were dead everywhere."

Joseph Alexander, 91, of Indianapolis, was a Navy ensign leading landing craft that delivered support vehicles for the invasion. He saw plenty of death, too. "It is something I will never forget," he said, "even if I lived to be 1,000 years old."

Today, we should never forget their extraordinary service and courage, either. It is no exaggeration to say what these men accomplished was nothing less than the preservation of the way of life we take for granted today.

The boys of Pointe du Hoc and the tens of thousands of others, living and dead, who claimed those cliffs, proved that ordinary men performing extraordinary deeds can change the course of history.